Detection and resolution of normative conflicts in multi-agent systems : a literature survey

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Contract Formation through Preemptive Normative Conflict Resolution

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Matching bias in syllogistic reasoning: Evidence for a dual-process account from response times and confidence ratings

We examined matching bias in syllogistic reasoning by analysing response times, confidence ratings, and individual differences. Roberts’ (2005) “negations paradigm” was used to generate conflict between the surface features of problems and the logical status of conclusions. The experiment replicated matching bias effects in conclusion evaluation (Stupple & Waterhouse, 2009), revealing increased processing times for matching/logic “conflict problems”. Results paralleled chronometric evidence from the belief bias paradigm indicating that logic/belief conflict problems take longer to process than non-conflict problems (Stupple, Ball, Evans, & Kamal-Smith, 2011). Individuals’ response times for conflict problems also showed patterns of association with the degree of overall normative responding. Acceptance rates, response times, metacognitive confidence judgements, and individual differences all converged in supporting dual-process theory. This is noteworthy because dual-process predictions about heuristic/analytic conflict in syllogistic reasoning generalised from the belief bias paradigm to a situation where matching features of conclusions, rather than beliefs, were set in opposition to logic

Prunes and posses: Individuation and team cohesion in Silent Witness

© Edinburgh University Press. Silent Witness (BBC, 1996-) is a long-running and successful forensic crime drama. Although academic attention to the series has thus far focused on the iconic original protagonist Sam Ryan (Amanda Burton), an intriguing period featuring a team of three protagonists followed her departure in 2004. This article analyses this 'team era' of Silent Witness, suggesting that these later series can use their new team dynamics to dramatise a tension between individualism and communality. Until 2012, Silent Witness developed this team's bond, yet also occasionally created tension between an individual protagonist and the team - disrupting the latter's normative cohesion. To demonstrate this, this article provides a close analysis of character interaction in the team era episode 'Body of Work' (2006, series 10, episodes 5 and 6). While describing the patterns of individuation and team cohesion found therein, it also explores their connection to innovations in aesthetics and cumulative narration and to a wider cultural tension in popular neo-liberal thought. The article then indicates how such innovations have affected the series' potential ideological significance and suggests wider applications of this approach for other post-millennial British television crime teams

Investigating the effect of long-term musical experience on the auditory processing skills of young Maltese adults

Learning and practising a musical instrument has recently been thought to ‘train’ the brain into processing sound in a more refined manner.As a result, musicians experiencing consistent exposure to musical practice have been suspected to have superior auditory processing skills. This study aimed to investigate this phenomenon within the Maltese context, by testing two cohorts of young Maltese adults. Participants in the musician cohort experienced consistent musical training throughout their lifetime, while those in the non-musician cohort did not have a history of musical training. A total of 24 Maltese speakers (14 musicians and 10 non-musicians) of ages ranging between 19 and 31 years were tested for Frequency Discrimination (FD), Duration Discrimination (DD), Temporal Resolution (TR) and speech-in-noise recognition. The main outcomes yielded by each cohort were compared and analysed statistically. In comparison to the non-musician cohort, the musicians performed in a slightly better manner throughout testing. Statistical superiority was surprisingly only present in the FD test. Although musicians displayed a degree of superiority in performance on the other tests, differences in mean scores were not statistically significant. The results yielded by this investigation are to a degree coherent with implications of previous research, in that the effect of long-term musical experience on the trained cohort manifested itself in a slight superiority in performance on auditory processing tasks. However, this difference in scoring was not prominent enough to be statistically significant.peer-reviewe

Cross-border cooperation: the meaning of cognitive and normative expectations for the emergence of Global research and development cooperation

Drawing on Niklas Luhmann's theory of social systems, we analyse the importance of different styles of expectation (cognitive and normative) for global research and development. In our study, we find that contrary to Luhmann's prediction in 1971, the normative expectation style still plays a vital role for the cooperative deals under examination. The second result of our study is that non-state mechanismus such as reputation, resource-dependency and trust are highly important for the stabilization of normative expectations in global business transactions. The role of the state-based legal system is reduced to stabilizing few, albeit crucial, normative expectations. --

Insecure attachment during infancy predicts greater amygdala volumes in early adulthood

Background The quality of the early environment is hypothesized to be an influence on morphological development in key neural areas related to affective responding, but direct evidence to support this possibility is limited. In a 22-year longitudinal study, we examined hippocampal and amygdala volumes in adulthood in relation to early infant attachment status, an important indicator of the quality of the early caregiving environment. Methods Participants (N = 59) were derived from a prospective longitudinal study of the impact of maternal postnatal depression on child development. Infant attachment status (24 Secure; 35 Insecure) was observed at 18 months of age, and MRI assessments were completed at 22 years. Results In line with hypotheses, insecure versus secure infant attachment status was associated with larger amygdala volumes in young adults, an effect that was not accounted for by maternal depression history. We did not find early infant attachment status to predict hippocampal volumes. Conclusions Common variations in the quality of early environment are associated with gross alterations in amygdala morphology in the adult brain. Further research is required to establish the neural changes that underpin the volumetric differences reported here, and any functional implications